Yes, I Have Mariachi Pants!  Thank you Jimmy and Sanne!  Our grand opening party was a huge success, not just because I was wearing some of the coolest pants ever made, but because we had so many friends, family, clients and vendors that showed up to party and support us in a 23 year old dream to have our own studio.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  If you missed the party of the year, I will give you a small recap.  We had a Cool band doing some great covers - Dean Cortez, Greg Diaz and World Famous Drummer, Joe Esposito in form Southern CA, and killer DJ - Mike from Good Vibrations - spinning and keeping the party going and lighing up the studio making it more like a club, of course we have to hand it to Randi from Naakiti for transforming our ultra cool space to an even ULTRA-ER cool place, The crew at Ice Occasions for literally cooling some hotness down, JR Lighting for equipping us with some fun toys to play with, William Pfersching for providing the delicious cuisine, Lori White for making Dalisa beautiful and finally, to Loftworks for providing a unique and exsquisite location to fit our brand, lifestyle and business.

-jmc & dc

Burning Man was awesome and i pretty much hung out with a dream team of some of the best photographers on the planet..  I’ll be getting back to work and putting up some overdue posts really soon and then i’ll share some of my experiences from the Playa.  stay tuned for that.   .jmc.

If Dalisa and I were more secretive this might just be a teaser post saying that “we have some super secret exciting news and we can’t let the cat out of the bag just yet but please keep checking back later for our uber cool announcement”.  But, as most of you know, Dalisa and i are pretty open about our business and the direction that our photography is headed.  So, when we committed today and set in motion the fulfillment of a 23 year old dream, we just could not wait to tell everyone.

The announcement: After 23 years of waiting and dreaming we are finally opening up under our name and brand - our very own kick ass Studio!

coming very soon:

yeah!

.jmc.

We have been on the run these last couple of weeks.  We shot a beautiful wedding at Canyon Gate Country Club for some close personal friends and then the day after we jumped on a plane to Mexico where we had a chance to photograph a stunning beach side wedding with an absolutely cool bridal session a few days later, all in Playa Del Carmen.  Home from Mexico we had two days to wash and repack for a quick trip to Denver to cover a gorgeous brunch then back for another two days to prep and pack the RV and head out for a personal vacation with our Best (John’s since high school) friend Robert.  There was no time to blog in between so now I will catch you up over the next couple of days.   First, our RV trip (which we just returned from) is, in fact, out of order but I want to bury the trip in the past and let the gorgeous weddings we shot stay on top of the blog much longer.

The first stop was the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  On the way there we received our first clue, we started to smell diesel.  With a quick stop at a flying J for fuel and to check things out…. Open up the slide and notice we have no fuel cap:  There’s the problem! diesel sloshing out all over the place.  We fuel up and make a temporary fix until we can find a place that has a fuel cap.  We get our fuel cap replaced in Williams AZ,  very cute town!

Below, the Grand Canyon.

Guess what I forgot to bring?  Our cell phone chargers.  After we left the Grand Canyon and headed to Monument Valley we occasionally could still smell diesel.  We pull over and check it out even though I know that diesel smell tends to linger a lot longer then gas. Small drip from the back, but with the engine too hot to tinker around with we decide to go the next 20 miles to the RV resort we were planning on staying at and let the engine cool down so we can investigate.  We didn’t make it.  After 10 miles we lost a lot of power and had to pull over.  A high pressure fuel line popped off..  made a quick fix and headed back to the nearest service station.  Kayenta, AZ.  We pull into the only service station in town to find out that the mechanic went home and would not be back until the next morning.  So our 2nd campsite was not as grand as our first but we have no choice but to stay over night and spend a good part of the next day getting the fuel line back with the help of the mechanic.

RV fixed!  Monument Valley, and a cool RV resort in Gouldings.

Leaving monument valley the next day, we are one day behind.

Below the Mexican Hat..   shot by Dalisa with a drive by style..

Next stop was Moab and into Canyonlands.

Heading up to Island in the Sky.

Island in the Sky

Archview, Canyonlands.  Looks like another planet.  I love the southwest!

On to Zion.  But just before, I break down and buy a phone charger.  back to being connected.  kinda..

Zion is always beautiful! Even in 105 degree heat.  We don’t go on any hikes, its just too hot and opt to hang out at the rv park in Springdale with just one short trip into the park.   The following day we plan to leave first thing in the morning so we can get home.. it has just been a long week!

Good Bye Zion - three hours to Vegas. Mr. RV is running great.  St. George - two hours from home. RV is running great.  Pass St. George and entering the Virgin River Gorge, a windy and winding down hill road that is notorious for really bad accidents.  In the middle of the gorge, engine dies, power steering gone, switch to N and try to coast to a part where I can pull over,  struggling without power steering to stay on the road.   Almost a mile of coasting and I find a place to pull this 40′ thing over.   Guess what?… engine won’t restart and our fully recharged phones are useless, read zero, bars..  I start to tinker around with the engine as Dalisa hits the service manuals and Robert starts to flag someone to call for help.

1 hour later highway patrol arrives and call’s AAA for us and we wait several more hours until a tow truck gets to us.  2 more hours to get the rv up on tow truck then back to St. George.  Entering St. George we get stuck at the Port of Entry, 45 minutes later with over-height fine (over 15 feet on the tow truck) we get on our way to the garage.  Get there after hours and the overtime rate applies.  Diagnose the problem and find out that they don’t have the part and will have to wait unit the morning to order it..  We are so close to home..  we wait it out again, now not just a day behind but also a day over.    They get the part in the morning and fix it by 2pm and we are on our way.

Heading home.  1 hour away, we start to smell diesel again.  Pull over, same fuel line and back to problem number 2.  Fix it the best we can and keep going…  driving mostly 45mph …   fix didn’t work.. pull over again, fix.  keep going… damn it,  we are going to get home!  Pull over again, fix.  Made it home smelling like diesel and grease and hot (generator turned off with a half a tank leaving us with no AC for the home stretch)…   the dogs are happy to be home, we are happy to be home.  The end of a long Adventure! What did we learn? One, that the first problem you find isn’t always the problem. Two, that RVing isn’t all that plush and easy going.  And Three 50 hours of broke down time and umpteen rummy games, dalisa is a rummy goddess,  she consistently  trounced us game after game… Dalisa is the Rummy Queen…

BTW: a few more images can be found in my facebook album, yes after much coaxing Dalisa has got me on facebook, so friend us if you are up for it!
John Michael Cooper

“>
Dalisa Cooper

“>

Oh, and thanks for reading through this very long post!

We thought we would share a little of our Maui vacation with you….

Last Spring, I had realized that it had been more than a few years that we had traveled for vacation.  With all of the the gorgeous places that we get to travel to for work, we kind of forgot.  With our daughters being 13 and 16 this Christmas, John and I agreed that it was a great idea to “skip the traditional holidays” and put together something that they might remember.  It’s so easy to get wrapped up in forgettable gifts and the holiday rush.  The best part… we had everything planned months ago, so all we had to do was finish up our last minute print and album orders and head out - no shopping or long lines or guessing what that “perfect gift is”.  I think we are on to something here….

Christmas dinner was even a cinch to prepare… well, for me at least - a luau seemed to do the trick.

And we couldn’t come to Maui and not take on a little surfing… Rosilyn and Sam did great for their first time.  Dreyson and his dad started the Royal Hawaiian Surf Academy and proved to be an excellent instructor.

As I am posting, we are actually still here - we just wanted to share a few pics for all of our friends and loved ones who are in cold places… hopefully you can feel the warmth through the photos above. Aloha for now - I’m off to the beach.

-dc

vote vote vote….  i’m sure watching this animation will cause some to go into seizures, so stop watching and go to the polls  and by the time you get back there will be a new post..

Our kids… yes - kids.  Taking full advantage of being in La Jolla for a wedding, the girls couldn’t resist running back for one last dip before we headed back to the dry desert.  Sam - our eldest, Rosilyn - our craziest and Amber - our part time daughter.

-dc